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REPORT 

OF THE 

Secretary and Treasurer 

OF THE 

Mississippi 

Historical Society 

1898-1902 



By FRANKLIN L. RILEY 



?<k 



REPORT OF THE SECRETARY AND TREASURER, 

1 898- 1902. 

An official report of the Secretary and Treasurer of the Missis- 
sippi Historical Society for the five years that have elapsed since 
its reorganization in 1898 is here given in response to numerous 
inquiries with reference to the development of historical work in 
the State. At the last meeting of the Society, before the suspen- 
sion of its activity in 1893, the following officers were elected : 
Ex-Gov. Robert Lowry, President ; Dr. R. W. Jones, Vice-Presi- 
dent ; Chan. R. B. Fulton, Archivist ; and Dr. William Rice Sims, 
Secretary and Treasurer. Shortly after entering upon the dis- 
charge of his dvities as Professor of History in the University of 
Mississippi, in 1897, the writer was requested by Dr. Jones and 
Chan. Fulton to accept the position of Secretary and Treasurer 
of the Society, which position had been vacant for more than four 
years. At that time the outlook for the Society was by no means 
encouraging, and its former friends had for the most part but little 
hope of the final success of the efforts to revive it. The most 
encouraging feature of the outlook was the fact that although 
there seemed to be few who would enter heartily into the work, 
there were none who would actively oppose it. 

At a meeting of the State Teachers' Association, held at the 
University of Mississippi in the summer of 1897, ^ resolution was 
introduced at the request of the writer, asking the Legislature "to 
appropriate $2,000 to the Mississippi Historical Society to enable 
it to carry out the patriotic purposes for which it was organized." 
Although this resolution met some opposition it was passed by 
the Association. 

} 
First Public Meeting. 

Realizing the importance of holding public meetings in order to 
create an interest in the Society, the newly appointed Secretary 
promptly addressed a circular letter to a number of his personal 
friends, appealing to them for aid in this work and requesting them 
to prepare historical papers to be read at a meeting which he, with 



the approval of Dr. Jones and Chan. Fulton, had called to as- 
semble in Jackson, Miss., on Jan. 7th and 8th, 1898. The re- 
sponses were encouraging in that they gave assurance of an in- 
teresting program for the first public meeting of the Society. 
When this session w^as held, the Society had only nine members, 
six of whom were in attendance. There were present, however, 
a large number of visitors and friends, and much interest was 
manifested in the work. Several valuable papers were read and, 
at the request of the Secretary, were presented to the Society for 
publication. The press of the State gave very complimentary 
accounts of the proceedings, thereby directing the attention of the 
public to the work of the Society. This was followed by a rapid 
increase in membership. An Executive Committee was selected 
to co-operate with the Secretary in the work which he had under- 
taken. 

Outline of Work. 

The Executive Committee of the Society has kindly permitted 
the utmost freedom to the Secretary in outlining and putting into 
execution the work of the organization. He has attempted to 
develop the historical interests of the State by projecting the work 
of the Society along the following lines: (i) The holding of 
annual public meetings for the purpose of stimulating interest in 
State history and of disseminating valuable facts relative thereto ; 
(2) the publishing of worthy contributions to State history; (3) 
the fostering of afifiliated local organizations for historical pur- 
poses; (4) the collecting and preserving of historical materials; 
{5) the locating and cataloguing of the sources of State history. 

Annual Meetings. 

Since the first annual meeting of the Society four other public 
meetings have been held, each of which has served to show that 
the Society has grown rapidly in public favor. They were held 
in Jackson (1898), Natchez (1899), Jackson (1900), Meriden 
(1901), and Jackson (1902). At the suggestion of the Secre- 
tary, the Executive Committee has adopted the policy of holding 
the meetings of the Society in the State capital biannually, in the 
latter part of the first week after the assembling of the Legislature. 
These meetings have been largely attended by members of the 

P. 

Author. 
aOJI'03 



Legislature, which fact largely accounts for their liberality in mak- 
ing appropriations to the Society. The meetings which were held 
in Natchez and in Meriden aroused much local historical interest 
and greatly advanced the welfare of the Society. 

Publications. 

Upon the recommendation of the Secretary, the Executive Com- 
mittee, in 1898, authorized the issuing of a publication, which con- 
tained the papers read at the first public meeting. A small pam- 
phlet of only 1 10 pages was then issued. This was a modest begin- 
ning of what has probably been the most important phase of work 
undertaken by the Society. The year following a second pam- 
phlet was issued, containing 250 pages. These publications were 
printed at the expense of the Society, but the debt incurred in is- 
suing them led the Secretary to seek for State aid in this import- 
ant work. In response to a memorial, which was prepared by 
him, signed by the Executive Committee and presented to the Leg- 
islature by the President of the Society, Gen. Stephen D. Lee, 
that body passed an act appropriating $2,000 to aid the Society in 
printing its Publications during the years 1900 and 1901. Since 
that time the Society has issued three other volumes, containing 
1,280 pages, all of which were bound in cloth. All of these Pub- 
lications have been edited by the Secretary. The undistributed 
copies of Volume I. and IL, which were originally issued in 
pamphlet form, were also bound in cloth by the Society, after re- 
ceiving legislative aid. These Publications have been sent to a 
large number of libraries in different parts of the United States 
and in foreign countries, and the demand for them is steadily in- 
creasing. An evidence of the estimation placed upon this phase 
of work by the Legislature of the State is found in the fact that 
early in the present year another appropriation of $2,000 was 
made to the Society for this purpose. 

Affiliated Societies. 

In order to unify the historical work in the State and to develop 
an interest in local history, the Secretary has encouraged the or- 
ganization of affiliated societies. Only three organizations of 
this kind have been effected. Their existence has been more or 
less precarious and the work they have accomplished has fallen 



short of expectation. If is hoped, however, that this important 
phase of activity will receive from the pubhc the consideration 
which it deserves. 

Archives and Museum. 

This phase of work was apparently the only one undertaken by 
the Society when originally organized. As a consequence, a few 
valuable historical manuscripts and relics, belonging to the So- 
ciety, were found by the present Secretary when he entered upon 
the discharge of his duties. During the last five years this col- 
lection has been largely increased, the most important additions 
thereto being the papers and correspondence of Gen. Adelbert 
Ames, and a collection of letters, addressed to Mr. A. H. Stone 
and relating to the Hterary history of the State. A catalogue of 
the contents of the archives and museum of the Historical Society 
will be found in the Publications of the Society, Vol. V ("Report 
of the Mississippi Historical Commission," pp. 173-198). At 
the fifth annual meeting of the Society a resolution was passed au- 
thorizing the removal, under certain conditions, of its archives 
from the University of Mississippi to Jackson, Miss. (See p. 13.) 

Histo rical Co m missio n . 

In order to promote the historical interests of the State, by the 
locating and cataloguing of the sources of State history, the Sec- 
retary drafted a bill, referred to above, which was submitted to 
the Legislature of 1900, looking toward the establishment of 
an Historical Commission. Several days were devoted by him to 
the advocacy of this bill before the Legislature. The success of 
the measure, which was passed unanimously by the lower House 
and by a large majority in the Senate, is largely due to the un- 
qualified endorsement and hearty support which it received from 
the newly elected Chief Executive of the State, Governor A. H. 
Longino, who has won for himself the enviable distinction of be- 
ing the first Governor of the State to recommend the granting of 
a legislative appropriation to the Historical Society. 

Gen. Stephen D. Lee, the President of the Society, appointed 
the following members to constitute the Historical Commission: 
Dr. Franklin L. Riley, of the University of Mississippi, Chairman ; 



Col. J. L. Power, of Jackson, Miss. ; Bishop Chas. B. Galloway, 
of Jackson, Miss. ; Gerard Brandon, Esq., of Natchez Miss. ; and 
Capt. P. K. Mayers, of Pascagoula, Miss. Mr. Brandon and 
Capt. Mayers subsequently resigned and were succeeded by Prof. 
J. M. White, of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mis- 
sissippi, and Rev. T. L. Mellen, of Poorest, Miss. Unfortunately 
Col. Power died before accomplishing any work as a member of 
the Commission. Out of deference to his memory, however, his 
successor was not appointed on the Commission. Because of the 
pressure of other duties Bishop Galloway and Mr. Mellen were 
unable to devote any time to preparing reports on the subjects 
which were assigned to them. The burden of the work fell, there- 
fore upon the Chairman and Prof. White, who devoted five months 
of arduous and unremitting labor to the duties assigned to the 
Commission. They were so fortunate as to receive some assist- 
ance from the following scholarly gentlemen, who have done much 
work in the field of Mississippi history : Peter J. Hamilton, Esq., 
of Mobile, Ala. ; Thomas M. Owen, Esq., of Montgomery, Ala. ; 
Mr. H. S. Halbert, of Lucile, Miss. ; and Capt. A. J. Brown, of 
Newton, Miss. The Report was published in a volume of 394 
pages and was issued as Volume V. of the Publications of the Mis- 
sissippi Historical Society. It represents the most elaborate and 
pretentious historical work that was ever done without compen- 
sation by any citizens of the State. It has been favorably reviewed 
by a large number of historical publications, issued in different 
parts of the United States. 

Correspondence. 

The work of the Society has been accomplished almost entirely 
by correspondence. Much time has, therefore, been devoted to 
the writing of letters relative to the various interests of the So- 
ciety. This work was done entirely by the Secretary until July 
I, 1 901. A few months before that time, the Executive Commit- 
tee realized that, as the Secretary received no compensation for 
his work, the duties of his position were demanding more of his 
time than it was just to expect. It, therefore, authorized the 
employment of a stenographer by the Society. This step was ren- 
dered doubly necessary because of the fact that the correspondence 
of the Society had grown so voluminous that it became impossible 



for the Secretary to do the work without the aid of an assistant. 
A few months later Miss Annie Berry, of Magee, Miss., accepted 
the position, the duties of which she has faithfully discharged un- 
til the present time. In conducting the correspondence of the 
Society, the Secretary has tried uniformly to give prompt replies 
to all communications received, and has spared no pains to con- 
duct an aggressive historical campaign along the various lines of 
work fostered by the Society. All the letters that have been re- 
ceived, — several thousand in number — have been carefully filed 
and preserved. 

Legislative Acts. 

The Secretary spent several days in Jackson during the first 
and second weeks after the assembling of the Legislature in Jan- 
uary, 1898. After interviewing the Governor and several mem- 
bers of the Legislature he came to the conclusion that the time was 
not ripe for pressing the interests of the Historical Society be- 
fore that body. He also encountered another obstacle in the fact 
that the Legislature was then assembled in a called session and he 
could not get an historical bill submitted for consideration. 

When the Legislature assembled in regular session two years 
later, he renewed his efforts to procure State aid. He found that 
a kindly reference which was made to the Society by the newly 
elected Governor in his inaugural address had prepared the way 
for effective work in behalf of that organization. Shortly after- 
wards Gen. Stephen D. Lee submitted to the Legislature in person 
a memorial, which had been prepared by the Secretary and signed 
by the Executive Committee, showing the importance of State 
aid to the Historical Society^ and discussing the necessity there- 
for. 

At the next session of the Legislature, in the winter of 1902, 
the Secretary spent over two weeks at the State capital, looking 
after the interests of the Society. He prepared for legislative 
consideration a bill which was kindly introduced into the upper 
House by Hon. E. H. Moore, of Rosedale, Miss. Although the 
committee to which it was referred made a favorable report, the 



A copy of this memorial will be found in the Publications of the Mis- 
sissippi Historical Society, volume III., pp. 15-20. It embodied an act 
which was passed by the Legislature and approved on A^larch 2, 1900. 



bill was lost upon the first vote. A motion to reconsider was 
fortunately entered. 

Upon receiving information of the defeat of the measure, the 
Secretary went without delay to Jackson in order to get, if pos- 
sible, a favorable reconsideration of the bill. Several days were 
passed in advocacy of the measure, before there was any certainty 
of its success before the Senate. There was little interest in the 
matter, the attention of the members of the Senate being ab- 
sorbed in a number of other measures, which were thought to be 
of more importance. An address delivered before the Senate by 
General Lee, who was in Jackson at the time the bill was de- 
feated, prepared the way for the work of the Secretary. Upon 
the suggestion of Hon. W. M. Cox, of the lower House, the Sec- 
retary of the Historical Society rewrote the measure, dividing it 
into two bills, — one providing for the establishment of a State 
Department of Archives and History and the other for its support 
and for defraying the expenses of issuing future Publications of 
the Society. These bills were introduced into the Senate by Hon. 
E. H. Moore, in lieu of the first measure. They were favorably 
reported by the committees to which they were referred and were 
.passed by a large majority of the Senate two weeks after the de- 
feat of the first measure. Through the courtesy of the Chairman 
of the House Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Albert S. Kyle, 
the Secretary, was given two hearings before that committee in 
advocacy of the appropriation bill, the importance of which was 
involved in the necessity for establishing a new State office. The 
bill for creating the Department of Archives and History was 
submitted to the Judiciary Committee and was favorably recom- 
mended, largely through the efforts of Hons. W. M. Cox and E. 
J. Bowers. Both bills were soon reported and passed by a large 
majority in the lower House. They were approved by the Gov- 
ernor on Feb. 26, 1902. These bills are as follows: 

An Act to establish a State Department of Archives and History under 
the auspices of the Mississippi Historical Society, and to prescribe its 
functions and duties. 

Section i. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, 
That there be established for the State of Mississippi and under the 
auspices of the Mississippi Historical Society, a Department of Archives 
and History to be located in the State Capitol in apartments to be set aside 
for its use by the Governor; and the objects and purposes of the said De- 
partment are the care and custody of official archives, the collecting of ma- 
terials bearing upon the history of the State and of the territory included 



therein, from the earliest times, the editing of official records and other 
historical materials, the diffusion of knowledge in reference to the history 
and resources of this State, the encouragement of historical work and re- 
search and the performance of such other acts and requirements as may 
be enjoined by law. 

Sec. 2. (i) That the said Department shall be under the control of 
nine Trustees chosen from the membership of the Mississippi Historical 
Society. (2) That the present Executive Committee of the Mississippi 
Historical Society shall constitute the first Board of Trustees. (3) That 
immediately after assembling in response to a call of the President the 
said Board of Trustees shall be equally divided by lot into three classes. 
The term of service of the first class shall expire at the end of two years; 
of the second class at the end of four years ; of the third class, at the 
end of six years; the beginning of the several terms of service for the pur- 
pose of this Act to be January i, 1902. (4) That the Board shall have the 
power and authority to fill all vacancies occurring therein, whether by 
expiration of term of service, or by death or resignation, but the names 
of all newly elected members shall be communicated to the next ensuing 
session of the State Senate for confirmation, and in case it shall reject 
any of the said newly elected Trustees it shall proceed forthwith to fill the 
vacancy, or vacancies, by an election. (5) That 9II Trustees chosen to 
succeed the present members or their successors whose respective terms 
shall have fully expired, shall serve for a term of six years, and ap- 
pointees to fill vacancies by death or resignation shall serve only the un- 
expired terms of their predecessors. (6) That the said Board of Trustees 
shall hold at the State Capitol at least one regular meeting during the 
year, and as many special meetings as may be necessa\y, and at said 
meetings five members shall constitute a quorum. (7) The Director, 
hereinafter provided, shall be Secretary of the Board. (8) The Trustees 
shall receive no compensation for their services other than the amount of 
their necessary expenses, actually paid out while in attendance on the 
meetings of the Board, or the business of the Department. (9) The said 
Board is empowered to adopt rules for its own government, and for the 
government of the Department; to elect a Director, and to provide for 
the selection or appointment of other officials, or employees as may be 
authorized ; and to do and perform such other acts and things as may be 
necessary to carry out the true intent and purpose of this Act. 

Sec. 3. (i) The Department shall be under the immediate management 
and control of a Director, to be elected by the Board of Trustees, whose 
term of service shall be six years, and until his successor is elected 
and qualified. (2) He shall take an oath of office as do other public 
officials, and shall be commissioned in like manner. (3) He shall devote 
his time to the work of the Department, using his best endeavor to de- 
velop and build it up, so as to carry out the design of its creation. (4) He 
shnll have the control and direction of the work and operations of the 
said Department and shall preserve its collection, care for the official ar- 
chives that may come into its custody, collect as far as possible all ma- 
terials bearing upon the history of the State and the territory included 
therein from the earliest times, prepare the official registers, hereinafter 
provided, and diffuse knowledge in reference to the history and resources 
©f the State. (5) He shall direct the future work of the Mississippi 
Historical Commission of which he shall be ex-ofdcio chairman. 

Sec. 4. That any State, county or other official is hereby authorized 
and empowered in his discretion to turn over to the Department for per- 
manent preservation therein any official books, records, documents, orig- 
inal papers, newspaper files, and printed books not in current use in their 
offices. When so surrendered copies therefrom shall be made and certi- 
fied by the Director upon the application of any person interested, which 



certification shall have all the force and effect as if made by the officer 
originally in the custody of them and for which the same fees shall be 
charged to be collected in advance. 

Sec. 5. That an official and statistical register of the State of Mis- 
sissippi shall be compiled by the Director after each general election to 
contain: (i) Brief sketches of the several State officials, the members of 
Congress from Mississippi, the Supreme Court Judges, the members of 
the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi, (2) 
rosters of all State and county officials, (3) lists of all the State institu- 
tions with officials, (4) State and county population and election statis- 
tics, and (5) miscellaneous statistics; and said register shall be published 
in an edition of one thousand copies for free distribution, the printing 
and the binding to be paid for as is other public printing and binding. 

Sec. 6. That the Department is charged with the duty of making 
special effort to collect data in reference to soldiers from Mississippi in 
the war between the United States and the Confederate States both from 
the War Department at Washington, and from private individuals, and 
to cause the same to be prepared for publication as speedily as possible. 

Sec. 7. That the said Director or Archivees and History shall cooper- 
ate with the Secretary of the Mississippi Historical Society in preparing 
for the press and contracting for and publishing the future annual pub- 
lications of the said Historical Society. 

Sec. 9. That this act take effect and be enforced from and after its 
passage. 

Approved February 26, 1902. 

An Act to provide for the maintenance of the Department of Archives 
and History, and to aid the Mississippi Historical Society in issuing 
its future publications and distributing the same. 

Section i. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, 
That the following sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be and 
the same are hereby appropriated out of any funds in the State treasury 
not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of providing for the mainten- 
ance of the Department of Archives and History and to aid the Mississippi 
Historical Society in issuing future publications and distributing the same: 

Salary of Director for 1902, $1,800 00 

Salary of Director for 1903, 1.800 00 

Maintenance of Department, 1902, 700 00 

Maintenance of Department, 1903 700 00 

Traveling expenses. Director, 1902, 250 00 

Traveling expenses, Director, 1903,, 250 00 

Printing and distributing publications of society, 1902, 1,000 00 

Printing and distributing publications of society, 1903, 1,000 00 

Sec. 2. That the auditor is hereby authorized to issue warrants for 
the payment of the above sums upon the application of the Board of 
Trustees of the Department of Archives and History when the same is ap- 
proved by the governor. , , . 

Sec. 3. That this act take effect and be in force from and after its 
passage. 

Approved February 26, 1902. 

Department of Archives and History. 

The first meeting of the Board of Trustees of the newly cre- 
ated Department was held in the Library of the State capitol, 



lO 

March 14, 1902, for the purpose of inaugurating this important 
phase of historical work. Dunbar Rowland, Esq., of Coffeeville, 
Miss., was elected to the position of Director, and the rules and 
regulations for the government of the Department were adopted 
on March 15, 1902. In compliance with the bill, two rooms in 
the old Capitol were assigned as the temporary headquarters of 
the Department, pending the completion of the new State House, 
in which ample provision has been made for its accommodation. 

Transfer of Archives. 

At the fifth annual meeting of the Historical Society the Sec- 
retary introduced a resolution providing for the removal of the 
archives of the Mississippi Historical Society, now deposited in 
the Library of the University of Mississippi, "to the rooms pro- 
vided for the use of this Society in the new State House, in case 
the Legislature of the State should see fit to provide adequate pro- 
tection for the said archives by the creation of the Department of 
Archives and History." The State having established such a 
Department, the valuable collection of papers and relics belonging 
to the Society will be removed in compliance with this resolution 
upon the completion of the new State House. The Society will 
then discontinue its activity as a collecting agency, this work be- 
ing transferred to the Department of Archives and History. 

Tympanum of Nezv State House. 

In October, 1901, the Capitol Commission requested that the 
members of the Historical Society suggest a fitting ornamentation 
for the tympanum of the new State House. This action was 
communicated by Governor Longino to the Secretary, who in turn 
notified the active members of the Society of the same. As a 
result a large number of interesting suggestions were made by 
the members of the Society. Although the suggestions of no 
members were adopted in full, the architect to whom the various 
suggestions were referred prepared a group of figures embodying 
what he conceived to be the best features of the various sugges- 
tions submitted.* 

* A complete file of these interesting suggestions will be found in the 
Archives of the Society. 



II 

Financial Statement. 

The receipts and disbursements of the Treasurer of the Society 
since its organization have been as follows : : 

Year. Receipts. Disbursements. 

1898 $111 50 $125 67 

1899 223 90 206 62 

1900 1,065 65 1,031 12 

1901 1,38805 1,36806 

As the accounts of the Society for 1902 will not be closed be- 
fore the end of the year, the receipts and disbursements for this 
period cannot be given in this connection. Whenever the ex- 
penses of the Society have been in excess of the receipts the nec- 
essary funds have been voluntarily advanced by the Treasurer. 
All of the accounts of the Society, with the accompanying vouch- 
ers, have been from time to time examined by a member of the 
Executive Committee, as required by the By-Laws and Consti- 
tution, and the Treasurer's book contains statements to this effect. 

Membership. 

The membership of the Society has grown steadily since its 
reorganization. There are now on the roll 235 active members 
and 14 honorary members. Of this number, 76 active and 
12 honorary members were elected before the Society suspended 
its work in 1893. Many of them had not qualified as members, 
however, by the payment of dues, some of them not having been 
informed of their election. 

During the five years covered by this report the Society has lost 
by death the following active members : Mrs. A. C. Peyton, 
Judge R. A. Hill, Mrs. Mildred Maury Humphreys, Col. J. L. 
Power, Dr. T. D. Isom, and Dr. S. A. Agnew. It has also lost 
during this period the following honorary members : Sen. E. C. 
Walthall and Prof. Herbert B. Adams. 

Conclusion. 

The historical outlook in Mississippi is full of promise. The 
past achievements of the Society are believed to be prophetic. 



12 

The organization faces the future with a prestige begotten of. 
success. Its friends believe that the results already accomplished 
have justified the efforts expended, and they are encouraged to 
work for and to expect greater things in this important field of 
labor. 

Franki^in L. Riley, Secretary and Trcasrrer. 



JUL ' 6 1903 



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LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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